Walking for justice 2017

This week, 12,000 people, the majority of them lawyers, walked and ran ten kilometres to raise funds for free legal advice services in London and the South East.

The annual London Legal Walk attracted support across the legal profession, fundraising to enable law centres and advice agencies to help vulnerable people access legal advice. 2016's walk raised £740,000 and organisers expect to break £800,000 this year thanks to the 700 teams that took part.

The advice services at the centre of the fundraising help families facing homelessness, older people requiring community care, trafficked women and children, people with disabilities, refugees, those facing unemployment, and people with mental health problems.

Cuts in civil legal aid and council grants have made access to free legal advice in the capital scarce, with fewer legal aid firms on high streets and some advice centres have closed or working with fewer caseworkers.

Lawyers from all corners of the profession came together to raise funds for those in need. The most senior judges and QCs walked side by side with law students, corporate lawyers, in-house counsel, high street solicitors, and front-line caseworkers.

Sir Terence Etherton, Master of the Rolls, said: 'We walked to raise funds for free legal advice charities supported by the London Legal Support Trust. The need for these charities has grown over the past few years while resources for their work have diminished. That makes the funds raised by the London Legal Walk more important than ever.'